Avatar, and the delusions

Ever since the movie Avatar got released, I’ve been getting mail chains saying it’s a copy of the Malayalam movie ‘Vietnam Colony’. Yesterday, almost 2 months after the movie got released, I went to watch it. And now, I’m so pissed off at all those people who heard the comparisons, believed it, and forwarded them by mails and mouth.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie Vietnam Colony, here’s the summary. The hero gets a job with some real estate corporates who want him to go to a colony, make friends with the people there, and make them leave the place. Apparently, the colony stands in a very prospective location to build a shopping complex (or a housing colony. I don’t remember, but it doesn’t matter). The colony is ruled by a group of resident thugs who won’t leave the place, and won’t let the people either. The hero makes friends with the people, falls in love with a girl there, becomes one of them, and finally goes against the company.

Avatar has a similar story line. The Navi’s are a group of people (blue colored human like forms) who live under a huge tree (Tree of life) in the far away planet Pandora. Below this tree lies a huge deposit of a mineral called ‘Unobtainium’ which fetches about 20 million dollars for one kilo in the earth market. That’s more than enough for humans to go there are start mining. The only problem is that the Navi’s won’t move from their tree, because they believe that everything in nature is linked to everything else, and finally to this sacred tree. The hero tries to become a part of their tribe to learn about them, and eventually to tell them about the human invasion plan and negotiate the terms of their migration to another place, which never happens. He is unable to convince the Navi’s about the human military power; the humans attack and destroy the tree, along with killing a number of navi’s including their chief, and the Navi’s fled to another sacred tree called the ‘Tree of Souls’. The hero comes back to the Navi’s and unites many clans of this blue colored people, inspires them to fight the humans and finally defeats them.

Now, the people who saw the movie and came out saying it is Vietnam Colony in English with a lot more graphics and animation is (as I would assume) prejudiced. Avatar has a lot more in it than Vietnam Colony. The movie is not just about a snitch turning hostile. It’s about cutting the big tree. It’s about how human beings have gone to the extent of destroying Mother Nature for his own selfish reasons. The Navi’s are a group of people who believe that everything in their world is inter-connected. The trees, plants, animals, birds, insects and all other living organisms are part of a whole system, which is a balanced ecosystem. The humans came into this system and disrupted the Navi’s way of life. Their greed destroyed the whole balance of the system. This whole concept is similar to the one happening on earth today.

The human greed has grown so vast that the resources available on this once green planet will not be enough to sustain their life in the coming years. We used to read about the ill effects of felling trees years ago. Nobody anticipated the consequences, and continued cutting them down. Now, years later, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air has gone so high it’s causing the ice in the arctic to melt; and gifted us with the new problem -Global warming.

An ending where good prevails over evil is one which everyone looks forward to, and is more commercially viable. Avatar is one such movie. Even though the message is right there in front of everybody’s eyes to see, we act blind. Avatar is a movie with a simple message sewn into a simple story illustrated on a movie screen. But the directors imagination is magnanimous, and that make this simple movie very special.

So here‘s my question, what’s the message in Vietnam Colony?

The Rise of India

Lately, I have grown an affinity towards reading books about world history, the rise of India, current affairs, and stuff like that. I've been reading articles on various websites about how the recession shook the whole world, brought out frailties in the biggest economies in the world, and how a gradual shift in power has begun which will see India and China to emerge as super powers.

I read a book by Edward Luce 'In Spite of the Gods', in which he talks about the different problems faced by the Indian system. Problems like corruption(now that's not new), bad politics, religious biases, caste biases inside religions and stuff like that. He talks about how Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar and other visionaries saw the future of our country in their own ways and helped in setting the foundations of this great nation. He also talks about how todays India has been shaped all the way from the Indus valley and Harappa civilizations.

He talks about how religion is the key for politicians today. Lower caste leaders are emerging today in India, and how the prejudice towards them from the upper caste still persists. He sees how religion is trying to market itself in new packages like 'The Art of Living', christian missionaries, Sai Baba's and similar organizations. He agrees that our nation with an outdated civil service network that hasn't changed from during the days of the British rule has to change for this country to go forward.

But the most important thing that struck me and made me think in his book was a fact he mentioned regarding our system. He is awestruck at how a corrupt, old aged, bureaucratic, unrevolutionised system like ours actually work. Now, there's something that really doesn't have an explanation. Well. I think it doesn't need any. I call this the system of chaos. Everything in this country is based on that theory. You get out of your house one fine day and walk to the busy crowded market along the footpath(if there's one; I'd bet you'd be walking on the road even if there's one). There are bikes, cars, lorries and buses flying along the small 2-lane road in both directions, at speeds that are not even allowed on some major highways in the so called civilized world. No one cares. The roads are not just for the vehicles. People stop their cars in the middle of the road to go buy a cigarette causing traffic jams everywhere. The traffic police officer is asking for money from a biker for not wearing a helmet, even though he was speeding on the footpath. Government offices have people standing in queues outside who want to get their work done; with the officials inside listening only to recommendations from superiors or bribery from inferiors. More than half the population of this country(I'm bad at stats, but I think it's a lot more than half) is illiterate, poor, hungry and homeless, and still India is on the verge of becoming a global power. There are communal clashes, caste discrimination, woman and child discrimination everywhere in this country, people dying without proper health care, epidemics, AIDS, and much more. But, the system is working. Things are getting done. People are living their lives. Roads are geting built, cities are being formed, the standard of living is improving. No one has a clue how it works. But it does. Everyone, including Edward Luce says that these are challenges India should face and overcome to become a global power in the coming years. I don't agree. I think our system works. Our country cannot change. It cannot follow a book written system. It won't work. It would be a waste of time and energy trying to even implement that kind of a strategy. I think our huge population won't allow that. And for once, I'm proud of it. I think no other country can ever imitate our system of chaos and produce positive results. I bet they will be terrirfied even by the thought of it.

I read somewhere how different nations announced themselves as the new world powers in history. The English dominated the seas with their Royal navy, then the steam engine kickstarted a revolution. The Americans gave capitalism to this world. They became a nation where anyone can fulfil their dreams, irrespective of their natioanlity or color. They didn't get involved in the world wars unnecessarily, and they held the high cards when they eventually did. The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki announced their arrival as the super power of the 20th century. Now it's Indias turn. The Indian economy is standing tall even when the world crippled under the recession of 2009. Indians are popping up on every field in the world as leaders and winners. The nation is growing exponentially, and the world has put a lot of expectations on her already.

But how will she announce her arrival. This is what I think. (Everything from this point of this article is completely my imagination. I have no proof to substantiate it, nor do I want to). The fight for Kashmir will lead to many Islamic terrorist activities in India, leading to the deaths of many innocent Indians. Pakistan will still try to harbour the terrorists, Al Qaeda will find a new enemy in India. This will start world war 3 between India and Pakistan, with Pakistan using nuclear missiles against India obliterating a whole city(I reckon it to be Delhi, or one somewhere in North India). India will retaliate with full force, and blow Pakistan out of the world map. By the time the world nations come for a compromise, there won't be anymore of Pakistan left. America would have sided with India for a change, since they want to be on the winning side(they have already started siding with us in international matters), making China to side with Pakistan since it's an Asian subcontinent issue, and intensify the problem to go out of hand across two continents, leading to a large scale nuclear attack, and destruction of the human race as well as any other life form out there. The civilized form of humanity dies forever in this holocaust. Thus bringing to an end(and a very ironic one) this civilized form of humanity, by destroying itself at the same place it started 4000 years ago, the Indus valley, that stretched from the north-west part of India to Pakistan and beyond to Afghanistan. I hope I'm mad.

A Predicament

Four years in college earned me only a handful of friends. That's because when I say friends, I mean people who you can trust with anything, anytime. For a person like me, trust was a very important virtue in people, which attracted me magnetically towards certain people. And they have remained forever.

There was one such friend of mine in college whom I met in the first year. In the first month of joining the college, he fell in love with his classmate. I respected their relationship. I used to look up to them, and believed in what they shared. She became a very good friend of mine, and I used to tell her how I'll help her elope with my friend after college when the time comes. They were my role models when I fell in love with my classmate in the last year of college. And they supported us too.

Four years of college together later, we went our separate ways. I joined Infosys, my friend was unemployed and was at his house in Kerala, and his girlfriend was in a software company in Trivandrum. This is where she met a guy who tried to hit on her all the time. She hated him, and tried to avoid him all the time. A few months later, my friend calls me up one night and tells me that his relationship with her was over. It came as a shock to me, and everybody else in our group who knew them. And guess what the reason was? She fell in love with the guy who used to hit on her. The guy whom she hated all this while.

I went to meet my friend who was in shambles by this time. He took a long time to recover from it, and get back to his original self. Months passed by and he's back to normal now. At least I think so. I heard she got married to some other guy(a third one, as far as I'm aware of) recently and quit her job. My friend trusted her with his life. And she trampled over his dreams in one quick moment, with no feeling of guilt, or remorse. I would think from my friends side how he watched the love of his life go away with someone whom even she hated and complained about to him. I have never met this person but I hated him for what he did. I know he was selfish for his own reasons. The world would say that anyone in his position would have done the same thing. But I don't believe in that bullshit. I think what he did was wrong, and what the girl did was much worse than that.

Which brings me to my predicament. After a couple of years in Infosys, a very good friend of mine(not anymore) saw a girl whom he liked instantly. He found out that she had a boyfriend who was working in another company. He was selfish like every other person would be. Humans. And the same story continued. This time, the point of view was different. He started hitting on her. She hated him the most in our group. Months passed by. One day she realises she is in love with him. She tells her boyfriend who has sacrificed a lot for their relationship to get lost(I've realised from many of my friends relationships that girls love doing this. Each one story can be a new blog).

I saw how it hurt my friend from college. I know how much I hated that guy who robbed his girl away from him. And now, I'm in a completely different position to judge. A predicament, so ironic.

PS: After what happened to my college friend, I don't believe girls anymore. My female friends have always come up with counter arguments against my stance saying that not all girls are alike and stuff like that. If you feel the same, you can always tell me. I would simply reply with a polite 'F*** Off' to that.For quite a few have said this: Frailty, thy name is woman.

Bad politicians

Inquilab Zindabad.... Jai Hind.... Bharat Mata Ki Jai....

These were the common cries uttered by the great freedom fighters of India before they laid down their lives for a great cause. These were the cries that urged the English to spray bullets into the hearts of the proud and brave Indians who fought for what they believed in. They believed in honour, and respect, and ethics. These are the reasons why even after so many years of British dominance, our ancestors were able to chase them out of this country. They lived for a cause and they died for it.

Fast forward 60 years and see what we have made ourselves into. A bunch of lazy, selfish and greedy lot who do not understand the value of life anymore. Look at our politicians. They are supposed to be the political descendents of the greats that have walked the land. I bet there's not even a single one out there who comes close to deserve the very minimum of respect. Our leaders had high hopes on our future when they fought the war for independence. They trusted the ones that came out alive to uphold their wishes and lead this country to a free democracy, become self-sufficient and a super power in the world. On the contrary, the ones who remained back screwed up the country big time. In the war, the men with balls stood in front when bullets were fired at them. The hermaphrodites hid behind the ones that fell, survived the scare and lived long enough to goof up our nation. This is why the group of leaders that we have today fight among themselves for power and have no responsibility towards the welfare of this nation. They're living for today, forgetting the vision of our founding fathers who dreamed this day a hundred years ago.

I believe this lot should all grow old and die and a new generation of men with balls should emerge if we have any hope of getting back the reins that our forefathers tried to pass on. And I really think that has started now. New faces with the proper attitude has started to enter the political arena. I just hope they're not dismissed away by the toxic politicians who are still clung on to system.

I've got feelings for you...(Part 3)

'I want to spend the rest of my life with you.....'

I told the guys about what happened with Tina during dinner. We were in summer sand, and I narrated it in a very beautiful way which left Nadeem's mouth hanging wide open all evening. It took some time for him to come back to his normal self. They were all surprised at it. Coz they never expected me to do something like this. They couldn't swallow it. We talked a lot that night. And I still had that pain in my heart.

August 18, 2006.

I reached class before 9(the first time that was happening). Tina was there already. As soon as I got to her, she said we'll go out and talk. So we came out and started walking towards the civil block. As we got between the road between the electrical, electronics and mechanical blocks, she told me that she thought a lot about what i said. She said she didn't sleep the whole night thinking about it. And then she said the magic words. 'I think i want to spend the rest of my life with you...'

She caught my left hand and leaned her head towards my shoulders. There were a lot of students coming towards us, but I didn't care. We walked around and talked about the same things over and over again. After an hour, we came back to the class. And about 10 minutes later, Anish and Deepesh came outside. I guess Pavan messaged them. They got to know what happened and was hugging each other and started jumping around.

Everybody got to know about us after that. Almost all of them were amazed to know that I fell in love with a girl and proposed to her. Somehow, they could not believe it. I had that pain in the heart for a few more days. I don't know when it went away. But I'm sure I'll never have that feeling ever again.

Two years later, her parents came to know about us. We had the regular kind of problems, and finally, they asked us to take her away, get married and never come back. We got married on 07-07-07 in Jayanagar, Bangalore, and married again in front of my relatives on August 21, 2007. Now her parents have accepted our marriage and took us back home. This whole episode is another great story, but I ain't gonna write it.

I've got feelings for you...(Part 2)

I didn't rehearse any lines beforehand. So I said what came to my mind. I told her that I've been thinking about this for almost a year and finally decided on telling after I realized it was not just a crush. She told me she has never felt anything like that for me ever before. And she asked me what my plan was! I told her that I would go to her parents when the time is right and ask them for her hand in marriage. If they said no, I would ask again. If they say no again, I'll ask a third time. If they still say no, I'll marry her. She didn't smile. She told me it was impossible for her parents to accept her getting married to a Hindu boy. I was optimistic.

I had a pain in my heart. I could feel an unknown heaviness with it. It was aching. I have never felt like that before. It was paining so badly, but I liked it. I believe that is what you feel when you are in love. They say you hear bells ringing when you meet the person of your dreams. I didn't hear any. But my heart was paining. A pain which I've never felt before. A pain which I was sure I'll never feel again in my life. I was not bothered.

We reached Royce, ordered two milkshakes at about quarter past three, and managed to finish half of it by quarter to four. Somehow, I couldn't swallow. My whole body was not responding to me. And I bet she felt the same way. We talked about the same things we talked while on the way there again. Then we sat quietly, looking at each other. I think we held hands for a moment then. We decided to go back to the classroom as the last hour was almost over. As soon as we got out of Royce and was about to cross the road, it started drizzling. They say it rains when Gods celebrate. I surely felt so at that moment. It was raining only a few feet around the place where we were standing. It was bright sunshine everywhere else. It drizzled for about 30 seconds and then it stopped. It was beautiful.

While we were about to enter the classroom, I asked her how she felt. These were here exact words, 'You took almost a year to tell me how you felt about me. I'll take at least a day.....and tell you tomorrow'.

To be continued........

I've got feelings for you...(Part 1)

'I've got feelings for you. You make me the happiest person in the world, and if you give me the chance, I will try to make you feel the same for the rest of your life'. 

This is how Chandler proposed to Monica in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. And ever since I watched that episode, I've written it in my mind that I'd use the same words when I meet the girl of my dreams.  

It was August 17, 2005. I don't know why but I planned to tell Tina that I love her today. Shabna asked me to accompany her to Amal Jyoti College to invite them for Virtuoso. The devil in me said no, even though I wanted to go. So she took Shebi and Pavan with her. So that's 3 out of the picture. Somebody called Nirmala for some Virtuoso work, and she had to go too. That makes it 4. It was me alone with Tina for lunch today. I suddenly started believing in God. We walked all the way to the cafeteria and ordered our regular Porotta-egg curry combo. After lunch, she wanted to take some book from the library, so we went in. As soon as we were about to leave, my phone started ringing. 

'Sibin calling....' 

Shit! CGPC work. If I pick up this call, I won't be able to go back until midnight. That's how all of Sibin's calls were. I cut the call and switched off the phone. Phew! That was a close one. 

We walked back to the electronics block. The first period after lunch was (I forgot the subject) by Harris sir. It was 1:45 pm, and we were sitting in the second last row. Kamchal, Vaisakh and somebody else were sitting behind us. I turned to Tina and reminded her about the thing I wanted to tell her for a few days. She got excited and started asking me about it. I played around without telling her what it was for some time, rehearsing Chandlers exact words in my head a million times. Then finally, at about two minutes to 2, I said it.

'I've got feelings for you........'

Shit!!! I forgot the next line.

'Whaaeaa(whisper)?'

Silence.....

She was looking out of the window after the words have registered in her head. I was still trying to remember the second line. I could hear my heart beat. And I could feel it's weight. Harris sir walked into the class. Shit!!! There goes my perfect timing. I still remember what he taught that day. It was zip-coding. After an hour, when he left, I told her that we'll go out and talk. She said yes. My heart was paining, there was some weird heaviness with it today. I didn't bother. We got out of the class and walked towards Royce.

To be continued........

e-Mail-ized

I don't know if it's just me but I have developed this new kind of syndrome lately. I can't go through a day without reading at least 50 e-mails. Now, you might be wondering what the big deal is. But I'm the kind of guy who never used to deal with emails until I joined the software industry recently. Every single day, I come to office and switch on my computer and see that there are about 200 new e-mails to be read. I have always wondered why people sit in trains, buses, coffee shops and even shopping malls looking at their laptops and reading e-mails. I thought they were pretending to be some kind of cool people who form the high class of society and can afford to buy laptops and show off. Why would you come to a mall to read mails? Unfortunately, now I know. It's addictive(And I kept myself away from alcohol and cigarettes all my life). Does it make you look cool? I don't know. What will you think of a guy sitting in a train reading mails on his laptop and replying to it using his blackberry. I guess you will have some sort of respect for him assuming he might be a very important man in whatever he does. Who else would have a blackberry with them? Or do you think I should get therapy?

Perspectives

Rohan's manager Roger Heathrow came to India last month from Dallas for a week. This was his first time in India, and he was really looking forward to it. He came to attend Rohan's marriage in Bangalore. He got here on a Saturday morning, and I went to the airport to pick him up. We walked towards our Taxi to start our one-hour 6 kilometre journey to the hotel he was staying. He was stunned to know it will take 1 hour to travel almost 4 miles in his metric system. He asked me why that is. I thought I won't spoil the surprise and put him in the front seat of the cab. The driver entered the HAL road and stopped at the first traffic signal we encountered. It said 34 seconds. We were stopped right behind a petroleum truck. There was about 3 feet between the truck and our car. And Roger was sitting in the front seat with his mouth wide open. He was rechecking his seat belt, but I didn't know how that would help. Terrified, Roger asked me why isn't there a safe distance between the two vehicles. It was at that moment a biker went through the 3 feet gap and somehow reached the front of the waiting line. There was a policeman standing on the side controlling the traffic, and he didn't even care. I can't express how shocked Roger was seeing that. He started talking about how the people in America follow traffic rules and how good their traffic department was. When the light turned green, the traffic started moving very slowly. And by the time our car reached the front of the queue, the signal turned red again. But our driver out of impatience drove through the red light and dashed away like a lightning. Roger was shouting to me that we ran through a red light. It was no big deal to me. We reached the hotel in almost an hour. I left for home after he checked into his room.

I had to pick him up the next day to get to Rohan's wedding in time. We got into the taxi and left for the auditorium which was about eight kilometres away. We didn't have much of a traffic this time since it was a Sunday. When we were on the highway, we saw a kid(about 16 years old) do a wheelie in the middle of the road at about 70 kmph on a Yamaha RX100. Roger was shocked to see this and started from where he left off the previous day talking about the bad driving conditions in India and the superior ones in the United States. Even though whatever he was saying was making me really angry, I didn't comment and kept nodding my head. Partly because whatever he was saying was true, and partly because he was Rohan's manager. He described the lines on the road as 'Suggestions' to the drivers, and not rules. He was talking about the policemen who didn't do their job, how close we drive zig-zag on a straight road, how dangerous it is to drive in these conditions, and how much traffic this kind of driving is causing. Finally, I replied saying that we don't have big accidents and pileups here in this traffic because we can't drive that fast. He heard the bitterness in my voice and stopped talking about traffic anymore.

He left soon after the wedding for Texas. He was a busy man. And again, I had to drop him at the airport. This time I took Ashwin's car and drove myself. I tried my best to follow all the traffic rules this time. He didn't talk about the traffic this time, but enquired about the places to see in India the next time he visited. He promised he would surely visit when he gets a chance. At the airport, after saying our goodbyes, I was about to leave when he told me to drive carefully and gave me a funny smile. I smiled back at him and left.

I heard from Rohan that Roger died last week in Dallas at the age of 37. He was hit by a stray bullet inside a supermarket when two 15 year old kids were trying to rob the place. He was on his way back home from office and stopped to buy beer. I was sad to hear that. He was a nice guy.

Perspectives...

...footPrints...

I got my first real six-string, bought it at the five and dime…

Played ‘til my fingers bled, it was the summer of 69…

Me and some guys from school, had a band and we tried real hard…

Jimmy quit, and Jody got married, I should’ve known, we’d never get far…

Oh when I kook back now, that summer seems to last forever…

And if I had a choice, ya I’d always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life... 

There is a reason why this Bryan Adams song is, was and always will be the best in the world ever. It sings a story about life. A part of life that every one of us has lived through. A part of life everybody wants to live all over again. 

Today, we are all in different parts of India, some of us even beyond. We have struggled to stand on our own feet, and finally got the first breakthrough. We are happy to be where we are today. And we are happy to remember the four years spent together in RIT. The place, where on an October 16^th in 2002, a bunch of about 60 kids came together in a classroom to start one of the most exciting journeys of their lives, a journey which brought them to where they are now, and which will take them much beyond hopefully. 

I remember the days when we started our journey. The ragging sessions everyday. All the things the seniors made us do in front of the class, and we couldn’t look up and smile, ‘coz it could be us next. The dosas Preena made, the duet by Sen and Tina, and finally, the fresher’s day celebrations which was the icing on the cake. The way we embarrassed ourselves was out of this world. I don’t remember one programme out of the 60 minutes we had which was worth applauding for. We showed our talent, and got booed big time. This was the first step and we went for it, even though it ended on a very bad note. Those memories bring smiles to me now, and I bet it would do the same to you. Our class tours, they were the best. The trip to Ooty in the second year, the Mathews-Rincy enactment, the KK-Sherin enactment, and the Rajavu ki Jai, the Hogganakkal falls, the Ramoji film city, the late night songs in the hotel corridor. I miss those days. The lab sessions, the lab exams, and the lab records, the assignments that somebody wrote, the classes I never attended, the virtuosos, the arts festivals, the strikes, the exams, the suppli’s, the Thankachan Sir, and all the other things that passed us during our stay there. Our Vadam-Vali team, our pookalams, our Mr. University. We really had a lot as a team, even though we never won anything as a team. Until the last year, when we won the biggest of all the prizes in the last competition we took part as a team, Keli-06. I really miss those days. I guess that’s what Bryan Adams was trying to say. Those really were the best days of my life. 

Now I’m in some city where time runs faster that I can catch it. Days zipping past by like bullets. I’m still in my journey in life that has no destination. And when I think of the days in college, it brings tears to my eyes, a tear of joy for the days we spent together, a tear of sadness for the fights I had, a tear of joy for the friends that I made, and a tear of sadness for the friends that I lost. I realize that I could have got back everything that I had lost in college if I ever get to live that life again, but I know it’s impossible. And today, when I think of the batch of ’06, the rhythm of RIT, which has become a rhythm of my own heartbeat, I realize that I have gained much in life in those four years than anything I have or ever will in my whole life.